strange young blackbird

[cafebird]

hello everyone, I would love your thoughts on this please,Ive been watching this baby bird for about 2 wks and Im wondering if there is something wrong with it, her feathers are always puffed like this,she is still being fed by her mother and rarely pecks at ground spill food herself but sits like this until mum feeds her. today I noticed some strange blue? marks on the side of her head one just behind the eye and another larger one below with a very pale blueish patch on the other side, she is the only baby b/bird still being fed by mum. I am wondering if there is a problem here?



[url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/archive/showphoto.php?photo=135517][/url

[bobbarber]

Welcome to W.A.B. cafebird.
It could be tic or some other parasite damage...Bob

[cafebird]

thanks Bob, is there anything that can help it? or will it recover by itself do you think? poor thing sits in one place for ages patiently waiting to be fed by mum.

[bobbarber]

Originally Posted by cafebird

thanks Bob, is there anything that can help it? or will it recover by itself do you think? poor thing sits in one place for ages patiently waiting to be fed by mum.

If it is a tic problem they fall off when full up with blood but could leave the chick fairly weak. As you say one of the parents is feeding it I would leave it alone. Sadly the survival rate of most fledgelings is not high and for sick ones even lower, though yours has lasted 2 weeks at least, it might be o.k. and I could be wrong about it being tic etc. damage...Bob

[Dogghound]

Looks like a deformity or spinal damage. This will not Survive im afraid.

[cafebird]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Looks like a deformity or spinal damage. This will not Survive im afraid.

yes the more I see it the stranger it looks,it's so upright looks like it will tip backward but its hard to tell with those feathers constantly puffed up exactly what shape it is, her mum always brings her to the garden around 5-30pm till 7pm but Ive not seen it actually fly it just seems to appear.even the mother is strange when she first appeared I would have sworn it was a male it was so so black and I questioned why a male would be feeding its young but just this week she has started to moult and she is turning a very light brown.thankfully this is the only deformed bird in my garden this year as last year was a bumper year for blackbirds with deformed/missing feet and many young birds were killed by the sparrowhawk which hasnt made an appearance this year.

[Dogghound]

Sparrowhawks do a good job of removing these deformed birds from the population, this means they dont live to breed and pass on their genes.

[cafebird]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Sparrowhawks do a good job of removing these deformed birds from the population, this means they dont live to breed and pass on their genes.

the sparrowhawk certainly took a portion of last years young especially bluetits,and between myself and my neighbour we found 25 dead greenfinch within a small area that were not down to the hawk,but Im happy to report this year we have a bumper crop of most garden birds especially all breeds of sparrow, for a change they seem to be on the increase.as do the bullfinch,goldfinch.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by cafebird

between myself and my neighbour we found 25 dead greenfinch within a small area that were not down to the hawk

This sounds like trichomoniasis which can have quite an impact on birds like finches especially greenfinch. This is a large number of birds in context to a local area, maintaining high hygiene standards on any bird feeders you or your neighbour have will help reduce the spread of this.

[cafebird]

hello dogghound sorry for the delay in response, re-greenfinches, yes I went onto the internet to look for possible reasons for the deaths and found out exactly as you said,we live right next to woods and do tend to get all kinds of wildlife in our garden that are happy to feed on the bird tables etc including the squirrel who likes nothing better than sunflower seeds instead of the peanuts we put in a seperate area for him but I dont know if that caused the problem as all the feeders were cleaned at night with fresh water and dried out for next day but I suppose the birds fed elswhere that we had no control over, happily this year seems to have been a bumper year for most of our garden birds so fingers crossed nothing goes wrong as its looking good so far.